Leaderboard

Final Winter Bed Down Yesterday was warm and sunny here in NJ and I took that opportunity to take care of the final bed down for the FST. We had a lively discussion on avoiding flat spots on tires and I was seriously considering using jack stands to get the tires off the ground. After reading about other Ollie owners experience and doing a bit of research I decided on the following: Boards under tires to insulate from the ground temp Over-inflate tires to 90 psi Cover the tires Take just a bit of weight off the tires with the jack stands The jacks did a nice job of raising the trailer so I could slide the boards under without having to hitch up. So, she is all bedded down for a long winter nap. Next trip should be the Oliver rally in May. Hope to see many of you there. Scotty And the Flying Sea Turtle, Blue Whale and of course... Donna

Anybody who has owned a mass produced RV of any brand and price will understand that in general, the quality is pretty much non-existent compared to say the auto industry. Oliver is a very notable exception, and a little reading about the standards of the rest of the industry is enlightening. RVIA certification: http://www.rvia.org/?ESID=about The group lobbies heavily in Washington DC to benefit its members and spends large amounts of cash promoting the RV lifestyle. It does enforce compliance of its (marginal) codes, primarily to ensure occupant safety. If you look at the standards under which they operate, you will see that their concerns are focused on plumbing, electrical and fire. http://www.rvia.org/?ESID=standards They pretty much ignore other factors such as structural design, product longevity, ease of maintenance, and production line quality control. An RV manufacturer can build any pile of rolling debris and sell it as RVIA Certified as long as the systems meet their very minimum specs. Not addressed are: "Stick and staple" walls that will fail after a few weekends of bumpy back roads. Virtually no waterproofing other than hastily applied lap sealants and poorly selected strip seals that are guaranteed to fail and allow moisture to intrude and destroy the cheap interior wood panels and plywood flooring, and to start a happy colony of mold and mildew. Horrible design flaws like (mandatory) slide outs that by design will break and leak. Tacky interior features like flickering electric fireplaces surrounded by flimsy faux stone trim. Interior cabinets crudely built and so weak that they fall off the walls they are barely screwed to. Primitive and weak leaf spring suspensions that wear out and break in a few thousand miles. Inadequate payloads, so the owner will not be able to carry his stuff and full fluids without being dangerously heavy. I'll stop here. Sure, there are exceptions - companies that build higher than average quality trailers, but they are still rolling disasters. I long ago vowed to never again own a mass produced RV. Here is an interesting article from the other side of the fence ... http://rockymountaintinyhouses.com/not-rvia-certification/ Oliver Trailers seems to occupy a curious niche in the market. They build extremely high quality "legacy" trailers that far exceed the minimum RV standards. I suspect that they could drop out of RVIA entirely and successfully continue to sell trailers, but they would lose those customers who must finance and whose lenders insist on certification. I find it very interesting that a few people are willing to pay so darned much for such a small travel trailer. It indicates that they want a superior product and the comfort and long term security it offers. There are VERY few other RV manufacturers here in the USA who are as good or better, and none of them build trailers. To get the superior build quality, you have to go to EarthCruiser, Earth Roamer, XP Camper or one of the custom expedition vehicle builders - and the common thread among them is that their customers REQUIRE a fully self sufficient camper that can travel the world without breaking down, and the cost is very high. Some of the Australian off-road trailers fall in this category but none are sold in the USA. Very few of these high end rigs have regular junk RV appliances - they instead use very high quality marine units, often diesel fired. Here is one area that I wish Oliver would change..... it would raise the price substantially but I think many buyers would like the choice. I am baffled about the continued success of the mainstream RV industry here ... are buyers stupid or do they just not care that they are buying crap, pardon my language? I will be sending an order to Oliver before the New Year. I am still working on the financing part... Please discuss. John Davies Spokane WA

"Don't buy an RV" ..... this is a must see video from a consumer protection lawyer describing why mass produced RVs have such horrible reputations. I know Oliver as a company stands behind its products in a very big way, but if you as an Ollie buyer are not prepared to visit the factory for a fix, or to make your own repairs, then you are entirely at the mercy of your local dealers, who undoubtedly don't care anything about your problems, other than perhaps saying, "This is so cool! But you paid WAY too much for it." Since everybody there is an ignorant, clueless jerk.... Yes, I am a little bitter, LOL. I view the industry as a whole as money sucking parasites. I am ready to do all that is needed to maintain my future Ollie, by myself. John Davies Spokane WA

John, Congrats on your Oliver purchase!!!

Regarding warranty, I also purchased a year-old Oliver past its warranty period. I brought it to Tennessee to upgrade the suspension and replace the Coleman a/c with Dometic. Even though it was past the warranty period, and I did not purchase directly from them, Oliver performed three other upgrades/service items free of charge- 1.)welded gussets on the a-frame as they did with TrytoRelax, 2.) changed out battery cables to larger gauge, I think for solar efficiency, and 3.) the manufacturer of the battery tray that was installed had a run of trays where the rivets were installed backwards, and in some instances rubbed on the sides of the batteries. They drilled them out and installed the rivets correctly to avoid potential problems down the road. I don't think any prospective Oliver buyer should have any concerns about a 1-year warranty period.

Oliver offers a 1 year warranty to the original owner. That being said, I am the second owner who purchased it past its 1 year anniversary. Both issues I had with my trailer Oliver took care of under warranty without a single question. They even reinforced the bracing welds on my A frame, as I had seen them in some photos of a newer trailer and asked about them while there. To me, this is some of the reasoning to paying a premium price and actually seeing that the value is worth it.

We have a roof on poles that the previous owner built. Of course every time we bought a different horse trailer, we had to raise the roof, and when we bought the Ollie, the roof had to go up again. The top had some old dirty green panels that did not let much light through, so I replaced 4 of the panels with clear ones that still lets the solar panels keep the batteries charged. It would be nice if the roof was another 5' longer, but it's what I have. Keeps the leaves and tree junk off most of the trailer. Stan